Men’s Basketball Recap: Nov. 24
Around the SWAC
UAPB 75, Little Rock 66
Little Rock, Ark. – Charles Jackson finished with a game-high 21 points on 6-of-12 from long range with six rebounds off the bench, Martaveous McKnight contributed with 20 points, eight assists and two steals and Shaun Doss had 18 points and five rebounds as the Golden Lions defeated the Trojans in the Championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational held at the Jack Stephens Center.
Jackson made the Las Vegas Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team while McKnight was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
After the game was tied at 49-49 with 13:22 remaining in the second half, UAPB increased their lead to as many as 17 with 5:47 left after a 3-pointer by Jackson.
Savannah State 80, Alcorn State 75
Lynchburg, Va. – The Braves led by as many as nine with 16:20 remaining in the second half. 50-41 The Tigers responded with a 22-12 run over the next nine plus minutes to take the lead at 63-62. It would be a lead Savannah State would not relinquish from that point forward.
Three free throws by Khari Jabriel Allen cut the lead to 77-75 with 46 seconds left, but Alcorn (1-5) state misfired on their last two shot attempts and the Tigers (3-4) iced it with three free throws.
Deshaw Andrews made 8-of-13 shots to close with 21 points and 10 rebounds, one block and one steal.
Maurice Howard had 18 points, a game-high nine assists and two steals. Allen had 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Devon Brewer had 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
IUPUI 80, Grambling State 69
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The Grambling State University men’s basketball team wrapped up play at the Fort Myers Tip-Off Classic on Saturday afternoon with an 80-69 loss to IUPUI at the Frank and Barbara Layden Court at the Gallagher Center.
Dallas Polk-Hilliard and Axel Mpoyo each recorded 11 points to pace the Grambling State offense. Polk-Hilliard also added five rebounds and two steals, while Mpoyo tallied eight boards.
Camron Justice registered a game-high 23 points, along with four rebounds and two assists to lead IUPUI. Ahmed Ismail posted a double-double of 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, along with three assists.
--Grambling State Sports Information
North Carolina Central 83, Southern 71
Niceville, Fla. – North Carolina Central held the lead over Southern for 36:41 of 40 minutes on the way to an 83-71 win over the Jaguars in the final round of the Emerald Coast Classic at The Arena at Northwest Florida State College.
SU (0-6) scored the first two buckets of the contest, but NCCU (2-5) quickly snatched the lead and held it for the remainder of the contest. Randy Miller Jr. got hot early as he poured in 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, helping the Eagles to a 39-31 lead at the break.
SU put together a strong performance in the final 20 minutes, as the Eagles and Jaguars were separated by just four total points but NCCU held firm to pull away with the 83-71 victory in the final round of the holiday tournament.
Jayden Sadler scored 18 points and Sydney Umude had 17 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal for the Jaguars.
--N.C. Central Sports Info contributed to part of this report
San Diego 76, Jackson State 58
San Diego, CA – The Tigers trailed by four at the break and could not get any closer as the Toreros outscored them 41-27 thereafter. Lemmie Howard had 14 points on 7-of-9 field goal shooting and Jontrell Walker added 10 points.
Isaiah Pineiro scored a game-high 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting with nine rebounds, two steals and one block.